 Hmmmm. Are those really the salient details that New York Times readers need to know about Adis Medujanin and Najibullah Zazi in order to understand why they entered into this conspiracy? Or might the Queens college grad and the shuttle bus driver have shared a common motivating ideology? Naaah. "Queens Man Is Accused in Plot to Kill Service Members," by William K. Rashbaum in the New York Times, January 19 A federal prosecutor told a judge on Tuesday that a man who traveled to Pakistan in 2008 to attend a Qaeda training camp conspired to kill American service members in Afghanistan. The prosecutor, Assistant United States Attorney James P. Loonam, said his office expected to seek additional charges against the man, Adis Medunjanin, 25, a Queens College graduate, and might consolidate his case with that of a shuttle bus driver, Najibullah Zazi, 24, who prosecutors say also attended the camp and was charged last year in a bomb plot. Mr. Loonam made the comments during a hearing in federal court in Brooklyn in the case of Mr. Medunjanin, who was charged in a two-count indictment unsealed Jan. 9 with conspiring to commit murder in a foreign country and with receiving military-type training from Al Qaeda. The bare-bones two-page indictment had provided almost no details about the alleged conspiracy, and while Mr. Loonam's comments in court were far from expansive, they constituted the most detailed description to date of the alleged plot. "In August 2008, the defendant traveled with others from the United States to Pakistan, with the intent of killing U.S. service members in Afghanistan," Mr. Loonam told the judge in the case, Raymond J. Dearie of Federal District Court in Brooklyn.... With thanks to JihadWatch 
 A MAN linked to a former New York food-cart worker now charged in an al-Qaeda bomb plot crashed his car while fleeing investigators. The New York Post reported today a source said Adis Medunjanin, who is on the US government's no-fly terror watch list, made a dash yesterday from the home that investigators have been watching for months. The investigators pursued him, but 25-year-old Medunjanin, a Bosnian immigrant who reportedly accompanied alleged terror bomb plotter Najibullah Zazi on a trip to Pakistan in 2008, sped off down a major freeway. Earlier in the day, the feds had picked up his passport for reasons that remain unclear, sources said. Near Manhattan's 20th Avenue, Medunjanin crashed into another car and tried to run away, but FBI agents tackled him, sources said. "We are getting a disgraceful runaround by law enforcement," said Medunjanin's attorney Robert Gottlieb, who denied his client was on a watchlist. "He's not a terrorist. If he's on the list, they've got the wrong person," he said. A source said it was unlikely Medunjanin would be charged with leaving the scene of an accident. News.Com
 A DEADLY al-Qaeda plot to blow up the New York subway was foiled by British security forces. Scotland Yard alerted the FBI to the biggest terror plot against America since 9/11 after intercepting an email. It sparked an operation which led to airport shuttle bus driver Najibullah Zazi, 24, being charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. The Afghan is said to have been part of a gang that used stolen credit cards to buy bomb ingredients including nail varnish remover. The chemicals bought were similar to those used to make the 2005 London Tube and bus explosives which killed 52 people. Thousands of New Yorkers could have been at risk from a US subway blitz. Zazi, of Denver, Colorado, is alleged to have been given instructions through the internet by a senior al-Qaeda figure in Pakistan. But the Yard's counter-terrorism branch was monitoring an email address uncovered in April's abortive Operation Pathway probe into an alleged UK terror cell. Eleven Pakistani suspects were arrested prematurely and later freed after Met anti-terror chief Bob Quick was pictured with a secret document on show while going to brief the PM. Quick resigned over the gaffe, but officers still kept tabs on the email address. It lay dormant for months - then was suddenly reactivated in September. After a British tip-off, US authorities allegedly found bomb-making instructions on Zazi's laptop. His fingerprints were on batteries and measuring scales were seized. A phone contained video of New York's Grand Central Station, which he visited a week before his arrest. And explosive residue was found in a kitchen. Informants also said Zazi visited a terror training camp in Pakistan. A British security source told The Sun: "This was excellent work and highlights the fact we produce good information." Furious US intelligence bosses had threatened to stop sharing secrets with Britain after the dying Lockerbie bomber was freed in August. But the source said: "They were delighted with the intelligence we gave them and believe it helped prevent a catastrophic attack." Source: The Sun
 Of course he must not have had anything to do with this plot. How could an imam misunderstand Islam on such a huge scale? Couldn't happen, right? Right? Ahmad Afzali Update. "Queens Imam Pleads Not Guilty To Federal Charges," from NY1 News, November 2 A Queens imam accused of tipping off a suspected al-Qaida operative pleaded not guilty today during his arraignment.... Prosecutors say Afzali told alleged terror suspect Najibullah Zazi and his father the two were under surveillance and then lied to the FBI about it. Afzali has denied the charges. Zazi is being held without bond in the city. He is accused of planning to build homemade bombs to use in an attack on the city's mass transit system.... Source: JihadWatch
 Terrorism specialist Marc Sageman claims that we are facing a “leaderless jihad.’’
Al Qaeda central is not the driving force of terrorism as an operational machine but rather its ideology serves as an inspiration for self-organizing local groups to carry out their own attacks. But other experts, including Bruce Hoffman, maintain that it is established organizations like Al Qaeda that remain the dominant threat and that we must focus more on the organization and its capabilities rather than random, radicalized individuals. The pattern of terrorism arrests since 9/11 seems to support the argument that homegrown radicalism is the greatest threat the United States faces and that Al Qaeda has lost its capability to carry out direct attacks outside of its Afghanistan-Pakistan operating base.
But just because homegrown plots constitute the majority of those uncovered doesn’t mean that homegrown terrorism is the greatest threat. Many of the homegrown plots have been all talk and little action. Even if the plots were executed, they would have been limited in scope - small explosive and ambush attacks or targeted killings. Mehana allegedly plotted to ambush and shoot shoppers at a mall. While it would have been a tragic incident, it would be nowhere near the scale of 9/11 or the Mumbai attacks. In addition, there is a significant difference between self-taught would-be terrorists and stealth operators who have had training and contacts overseas like the sophisticated Mumbai attackers, Ramzi Yousef, or Mohamed Atta. Read more here,,,, Source: Boton Globe Lydia Khalil, a former counterterrorism analyst for the New York Police Depatment, is a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
 Evidently this was going to be a very major attack. New York Jihad Plot Update. "Officials: Zazi Had Contact With Top Al-Qaida Leaders," by Dina Temple-Raston for NPR, October 15 The man arrested last month for allegedly plotting to blow up targets in New York contacted one of Osama bin Laden's right-hand men, U.S. intelligence officials say. Officials say Denver shuttle bus driver Najibullah Zazi used an intermediary to contact Mustafa al-Yazid, the head of al-Qaida's operations in Afghanistan. Yazid is perhaps best known for saying earlier this year that he would use nuclear weapons against the U.S. if only he could get his hands on them. The Zazi connection to Yazid was first reported by The Associated Press. While officials would not characterize the nature of their contact, the fact that Zazi could actually reach out and get hold of a top al-Qaida operative in Afghanistan is significant. This is the third time in the past few years that al-Qaida's top leadership appears to have given recruits with U.S. ties some sort of special consideration or attention. "I think al-Qaida is always in search of interesting operatives who can operate in the West, and in particular, in the United States," said Juan Zarate, a former deputy national security adviser for terrorism in the Bush administration. Could Have Been A 'Coup' For Al-Qaida Zazi appears to fit the profile of an "interesting operative." He's an Afghan immigrant who had lived in the U.S. for 10 years. His lawyer told NPR that Zazi was about to apply for his green card. Until he was arrested last month, he had never been in trouble with the law. And because of those factors, he was able to move freely around the U.S. Zarate says that combination would have been a coup for al-Qaida. "A coup for al-Qaida in this instance would be the ability to create the kind of threat in the homeland that al-Qaida has tried to foment ever since 9/11," said Zarate. "And I think that, for authorities, is the chilling dimension of this." Authorities say Zazi, 24, trained at an al-Qaida camp in Pakistan last year. They accuse Zazi of trying to make homemade explosives using ingredients from beauty supply stores purchased in the Denver area. The FBI says it found chemical residue consistent with bomb-making in a hotel room Zazi rented just days before the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.... Source: JihadWatch
 Recent terror raids in Queens have led to a spike in fear and racial profiling, Muslim advocates charge. About 40 people rallied outside the Flushing Public Library Saturday to draw attention to what they called an uptick in targeted policing. The rally was in response to raids last month linked to a suspected bomb plot. Najibullah Zazi, 24, who authorities say was trained at an Al Qaeda terror camp, pleaded not guilty to conspiring to detonate explosives. "An entire community of people and religion should not be profiled or characterized as terrorists because of [one] certain investigation," said Monami Maulik, who runs the South Asian immigrant rights group Desis Rising Up and Moving. Naiz Khan, who allowed Zazi to stay at his Flushing apartment, said FBI agents raided his flat and he hasn't been able to find work since. "I was so scared and I was so nervous," he said. "I have been so affected by this." "People are scared," said Sultan Faiz, a leader at Abu Bakar Mosque in Queens. Organizers say Muslims in New York haven't been this scared since the months after 9/11, when some were subject to discrimination across the country. The NYPD issued a statement saying they don't engage in racial profiling. Source: New York Daily News
 The father of an Afghan immigrant accused of plotting one of the most serious security threats to the United States since the Sept. 11 attacks was indicted on Thursday on charges of lying to the FBI, federal prosecutors said. Mohammed Wali Zazi, 53, had previously been charged by prosecutors with lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation when it was investigating his son, Najibullah Zazi, 24. Source: YNet
 Thomas L. Friedman He didn’t want to wear earplugs. Apparently, he wanted to enjoy the blast.That is what The Dallas Morning News reported about Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, the 19-year-old Jordanian accused of trying to blow up a downtown Dallas skyscraper.
He was caught by an F.B.I. sting operation that culminated in his arrest nearly two weeks ago — after Smadi parked a 2001 Ford Explorer Sport Trac, supplied by the F.B.I., in the garage of a Dallas office tower. “Inside the S.U.V. was a fake bomb, designed to appear similar to one used by Timothy McVeigh in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing,” The News wrote. “Authorities say Smadi thought he could detonate it with a cellphone.
After parking the vehicle, he got into another vehicle with one of the agents, and they drove several blocks away. An agent offered Smadi earplugs, but he declined, ‘indicating that he wanted to hear the blast,’ authorities said. He then dialed the phone, thinking it would trigger the bomb. ... Instead, the agents took him into custody.” If that doesn’t send a little shiver down your spine, how about this one? BBC.com reported that “it has emerged that an Al Qaeda bomber who died last month while trying to blow up a Saudi prince in Jeddah had hidden the explosives inside his body.” He reportedly inserted the bomb and detonator in his rectum to elude metal detectors. My God. Or how about this? Two weeks ago in Denver, the F.B.I. arrested Najibullah Zazi, a 24-year-old Afghan immigrant, and indicted him on charges of planning to set off a bomb made of the same home-brewed explosives used in the 2005 London transit bombings. He allegedly learned how to do so on a training visit to Pakistan.
The Times reported that Zazi “had bought some bomb ingredients in beauty supply stores, the authorities said, after viewing instructions on his laptop on how to build such a bomb. When an employee of the Beauty Supply Warehouse asked about the volume of materials he was buying, he remembered Mr. Zazi answering, ‘I have a lot of girlfriends.’ ” These incidents are worth reflecting on. They tell us some important things. First, we may be tired of this “war on terrorism,” but the bad guys are not. They are getting even more “creative.” Read more here,,,, Source: NYT
 New York Jihad Plot Update. "Sources: Several who went to Pakistan with Zazi back in U.S.," from CNN, October 4: Several people who traveled from New York to Pakistan last year with a man accused of plotting a terrorist attack have since returned to the United States, sources close to the investigation told CNN. A grand jury has been in session in New York in the last week as further charges are considered in the expanding terror investigation, CNN learned. Najibullah Zazi, 24, appeared in federal court last week. He pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiring with others to detonate explosives in the United States. Prosecutors allege that on August 28, 2008, Zazi and others flew to Peshawar, Pakistan, a city with a strong Taliban and al Qaeda presence. Those currently under surveillance in the United States include members of Zazi's travel group, according to one source familiar with the investigation. Another source said at least some of the travel group are back in the United States. Officials will not discuss the identity, number or location of those under surveillance. One of those under round-the-clock surveillance is Queens, New York, resident Naiz Khan. He and Zazi were friends as teenagers and Zazi stayed at Khan's rented apartment on September 10 after driving to New York from Denver. Khan said he has been caught up in the investigation by a series of coincidences. One was that he happened to meet Zazi at a local mosque hours after Zazi arrived in New York last month and offered him a place to stay. He said another coincidence was that he had flown back to the United States from Pakistan on the same day as Zazi: January 15. In an interview with CNN, Khan said he had not flown to Pakistan with Zazi, but had been visiting family in Karachi as he does every year. He showed CNN his passport, which had an entry stamp for Karachi for November 4. Federal investigators found backpacks and a scale when they raided Khan's apartment soon after Zazi stayed there. In the past, scales have been used to measure ingredients for explosives; backpacks were used in the terrorist attacks in Madrid in 2004 and London in 2005. Khan said he had never seen the scale and that the backpacks had been a gift to his uncle, who also lives in the apartment, from a store. He said his uncle planned to send them to children in Pakistan. Khan said Zazi told him he was visiting New York to deal with a business issue related to a permit for a coffee cart that he owned. He also said Zazi visited New York several months previously. Khan said he was shocked at the accusations against Zazi. "He used to enjoy his life and was very happy and never -- I never heard anything from him like that," Khan said. Sources close to the Zazi investigation said it is continuing at full throttle. "No one will tell you that we have our arms around this," one source said....
 Annie Jacobsen Was the Colorado terror suspect radicalized in an American mosque? It’s been a busy month for the FBI. All 50 field offices have been involved in the ongoing investigating of what may turn out to be the biggest terrorist plot in the United States since 9/11.
The man at its center is Najibullah Zazi, 24, an Afghan immigrant with a green card — which makes him the FBI’s worst nightmare of a threat. “I want to talk today about the changing shape of terrorism and, in particular, the threat of homegrown terrorism,” FBI Director Robert Mueller declared in an executive speech in June 2006.
When the FBI calls someone a homegrown terrorist, they mean the person gets radicalized while living on American soil. The homegrown terrorist speaks English, is familiar with American customs, and is able to blend in.
The privilege of U.S. travel documents allows the homegrown terrorist remarkable freedom of movement around the globe. Najibullah Zazi, for example, was able to travel from New York to Switzerland to Qatar to Pakistan, where he stayed for approximately five months before returning to the land he calls home. “To detect homegrown terrorists,” Robert Mueller pointed out, is difficult. “They operate under the radar. And that makes their detection that much more difficult for all of us.” Zazi, it appears, is such a case. “He was a nice guy,” one of his co-workers at Big Sky Shuttle in Lakewood, Colorado, told me on Friday afternoon (the co-worker chose not to be named). That’s where Zazi got a job working as an airport van driver beginning in February 2009. When I asked the man if he ever expected his co-worker to be at the center of an international terrorist plot, he replied: “No way, it’s so weird.” At first even Najibullah Zazi himself tried to play the innocent card with the public through the press. “I’m just normal,” he told the Denver Post’s Kirk Mitchell on September 15. “I pray five times a day. I observe Ramadan,” he said. Dressed in a button-down shirt and blue jeans, Zazi certainly looked the part of the “normal citizen” he claimed to be.
That was before he, his father Mohammed, and a Brooklyn cleric with a penchant for expensive cars named Ahmad Wais Afzali were arrested on plotting a terrorist attack inside the United States using weapons of mass destruction. That was before the material evidence came to light. There was the bomb-making instructions allegedly written in Zazi’s hand and the eerie video of him pushing a cart down a Denver beauty store aisle, purchasing enough potential bomb-making material to blow up several subway cars, stadium stands, or buses. Who can imagine what public venue the homegrown terrorists had in mind to destroy? When Zazi was asked by the beauty store clerk why he needed so much of a particular beauty supply product, the “normal citizen” responded: “I have a lot of girlfriends.” How American of him. Read more here,,,, Source: Pajamas Media
 NEW YORK: Afghan-born Najibullah Zazi pleaded not guilty in a New York court on Tuesday to a charge of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction as part of an alleged bomb plot. Judge Raymond Dearie ordered Mr Zazi, 24, to be held without bail after prosecutors argued he was a flight risk and "will pose significant danger to the community if released". The youthful, bearded Mr Zazi, dressed in dark blue and orange prison garb, remained silent during the hearing in federal court in Brooklyn.
Mr Zazi, who before his arrest drove an airport shuttle bus in Denver, Colorado, is accused of preparing a bombing spree in New York this month, possibly on the eighth anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Prosecutors say he carried bomb-making instructions in a laptop and had been shopping for large quantities of chemicals found in beauty products that could have been the ingredients for explosives.
They also say he received explosives training in Peshawar, Pakistan. Defence lawyer Michael Dowling said there was no evidence his client had committed a crime. "I would like to stop this rush to judgment," he told dozens of journalists at the courthouse. He said travelling to Pakistan "is not illegal" and that the laptop did not prove any crime had been committed. The conspiracy charge meant the government's main burden, he said, was to prove Mr Zazi plotted with others.
So far no one else has been charged. Mr Zazi allegedly drove to New York on September 9 in what a Denver prosecutor called "a chilling, disturbing sequence of events that indicated he intended to make a bomb and intended to be in New York City on 9/11". Prosecutors say Mr Zazi left New York after receiving a tip-off he was being watched by federal agents. Attorney-General Eric Holder said last week the investigation was continuing. Source: The Australian
 AP: 3 New Yorkers Linked to Zazi Investigators believe they know possible accomplices of Afghan immigrant Najibullah Zazi, who is accused of plotting a terrorist attack against New York City, according to an Associated Press report, which cites a law enforcement source. A federal indictment mentions at least three people helping Zazi buy peroxide and acetone in suburban Denver from beauty supply stores. According to security experts, those chemicals can be used to make explosives. Federal agents and NYPD detectives working the case know the identities of three New Yorkers they believe are involved in some way, the AP reports. Authorities arrested Zazi and his father in Denver last week. His father was released on bail. Zazi was transported to New York to face a federal judge in connection with an alleged plot to set off explosives on commuter trains to coincide with the Sept. 11 anniversary. He has denied any involvement in terrorism. The Joint Terrorism Task Force also arrested an imam from Queens for allegedly lying to investigators. Last Thursday, a federal magistrate freed Ahmad Afzali on $1.5 million bail. "This is my land, this is my country, I love this place," Afzali said Thursday after his release. He has been an NYPD informant.
"Zazi used to come to the mosque, then he would disappear from the mosque and the last time I saw him was many years ago," he said. Source: Fox
 By Robert Boczkiewicz in Denver Assistant US Attorney Tim Neff summed up the Government's case against Najibullah Zazi, 24, in a Denver courtroom before the suspect was flown in federal custody to New York to face a charge of plotting bomb attacks in the United States.
Zazi, linked by authorities to al-Qaeda, was making his third appearance before a federal judge in Denver. He was ordered to remain held without bail, then put aboard a US Marshals Service jet for the cross-country flight.
His first New York court appearance is set for Tuesday.
Zazi has repeatedly denied wrongdoing in media interviews and through his lawyers.
"There was and is no plot," defense attorney Arthur Folsom said.
Zazi is accused of receiving bomb-making instructions during a trip to Pakistan last year, then buying and preparing chemicals for use in home-made explosives like those used in the deadly London mass transit bombings in 2005.
A grand jury in New York has charged Zazi, a legal US resident born in Afghanistan, under federal anti-terrorism laws with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction, an offense outlined in an indictment unsealed on Thursday.
He faces a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted.
Law enforcement experts have called the suspected conspiracy, if proven, one of the most significant security threats in the United States since the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Authorities say the case is unrelated to two other security arrests this week in Dallas and Springfield, Illinois.
The investigation came to light earlier this month after Zazi drove across the country from Colorado, arriving in New York City on September 10 in a rental car in which authorities say he carried a laptop computer with detailed bomb-making notes.
 Tim Reid in Washington
A series of undercover sting operations in the US has resulted in arrests in four unrelated terror bomb plots across America, raising concerns of another attack on US soil. While the FBI continues to question Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan-born Denver resident accused of plotting the biggest terror attack since the September 11 atrocity, arrests were also made in Illinois and Dallas, and an investigation was widened in North Carolina. A 19-year-old Jordanian, Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, was arrested after allegedly placing what he thought was a bomb at a Dallas skyscraper. The decoy device was provided by an undercover FBI agent. In Springfield, Illinois, Michael Finton, 29, was arrested after allegedly trying to detonate what he thought was a bomb outside a federal courthouse. The FBI had infiltrated the plot months ago. Two North Carolina men under arrest since July on international terrorism charges have also been accused of plotting to kill US military personnel in America. Source: Times Online
 Afghan immigrant bought large quantities of chemicals, authorities charge
NEW YORK - An Afghan immigrant who received explosives training from al-Qaida went from one beauty supply store to another, buying up large quantities of hydrogen peroxide and nail-polish remover, in a chilling plot to build bombs for attacks on U.S. soil, authorities charged Thursday. Najibullah Zazi, a 24-year-old shuttle driver at the Denver airport, was indicted in New York on charges of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction. Investigators said they found bomb-making instructions on his computer's hard drive and said Zazi used a hotel room in Colorado to try to cook up explosives a few weeks ago before a trip to New York. The extent of Zazi's ties to al-Qaida was unclear, but if the allegations prove true, this could be the first operating al-Qaida cell to be uncovered inside the U.S. since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Over the past few days, talk of the possible plot set off the most intense flurry of national terrorism warnings since the aftermath of 9/11. Prosecutors said they have yet to establish exactly when and where the Zazi attacks were supposed to take place. But Attorney General Eric Holder said in Washington, "We believe any imminent threat arising from this case has been disrupted." Zazi was arrested in Denver last weekend and was charged along with his father and a New York City imam with lying to investigators. Authorities said in the past few days that they feared Zazi and others might have been planning to detonate homemade bombs on New York trains, and warnings went out to transit systems, stadiums and hotels nationwide. Read more here,,,, Source: MSNBC
 Appearing to be more serious by the minute. New York Jihad Plot Update. "Up to 24 More People Under Scrutiny as NYC Tightens Security in Terror Probe," from FoxNews. NEW YORK -- Police in New York City stepped up their patrols and increased their random searches on subways and buses Wednesday following reports that as many as 24 more people are under observation in a suspected cross-country terror plot.
Amid media reports that some public storage centers in the region were being raided, the FBI told FOX News that there may be "consensual searches" under way but they were not "raids." No new search warrants have been filed in recent days, the FBI told FOX. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security issued bulletins earlier this week warning law enforcement officials around the country to watch mass transit, stadiums, warehouses with rentable storage units and hotels for any unusual activity. The feds circulated the internal alerts in the midst of the investigation into a suspected New York City-Colorado terror plot in which three people -- an airport shuttle driver, his father and an imam -- are in custody for allegedly lying to the government. The three are due in court Thursday to face the charges. The possible Al Qaeda-linked scheme may have included plans to detonate bombs stuffed into backpacks, much like the subway attacks carried out in Madrid and London, authorities say.... Source: JihadWatch
 There are at least three aspects of the ongoing investigation into suspected al Qaeda-affiliated terrorists in Colorado and New York that are especially troubling. First, Najibullah Zazi, the Afghan immigrant at the heart of the case, has reportedly admitted that he was trained in an al Qaeda training camp in Northern Pakistan as recently as last year.
This is especially important because even though some counterterrorism analysts believe that the Internet alone is sufficient for conspirators to get together to execute a terrorist attack, it is clear that Northern Pakistan has been the hub for the most serious terrorist plots in recent years. Just ask British authorities. Al Qaeda’s July 7, 2005, bombings in London, a follow-on plot scheduled for later that same month, as well as the summer 2006 plot against as many as ten airliners can all be traced back to northern Pakistan. While most of the terrorists involved had been “westernized” to a large extent, they still needed to connect with their al Qaeda brethren to make their plots go. This was apparently true of Zazi as well. He certainly has transplanted roots on American soil, but in order to acquire vital bomb-making skills and other operational tradecraft he found it necessary to travel to Northern Pakistan. Second, it is clear that law enforcement authorities still don’t know much about the putative plot(s) Zazi was involved in, even though they are convinced it was major. Three men have been taken into custody, but federal authorities have told the press that perhaps as many as a dozen suspects were involved. The LA Times relays this troubling revelation: “Authorities said that they did not know the exact number of potential suspects or many of their identities, but that they had been connected through electronic intercepts, surveillance, seized evidence and interviews.” Now, the FBI and other law enforcement officials have a significant amount of pocket litter, computer hardware, and surveillance reports in their possession. But they are still not sure who Zazi was working with or how various personalities related to each other.
This reveals a key aspect of intelligence collection and analysis. Oftentimes, hard evidence is incredibly important, but it can be difficult for authorities to piece together how the various names and telephone numbers that are discovered relate to one another. This is why getting detainees to provide information is crucially important. When Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) was captured, for example, U.S. authorities also recovered hard drives from his residence. Those hard drives included thousands of names. Without some guidance from KSM and other al Qaeda detainees, it would have been next to impossible to put many of these names into an understandable context. If the LA Times report and other press accounts are accurate (and I have no reason to doubt that they are), then Zazi has clearly not given up crucial details about what he was doing. Not only are authorities not clear on who he was working with, but they are also not certain what targets he and his alleged co-conspirators planned to strike.
Surveillance pictures and video of various landmarks (including stadiums) and public transit nodes (Grand Central Station) were reportedly found in Zazi’s possession. But it is not perfectly clear where he planned to strike. Various television broadcasts here in the New York area have noted that authorities are also looking for an explosives mill. Investigators reportedly believe that Zazi and others had already gotten their bomb-making operation of the ground. If this is true, and the bomb-making facility exists somewhere, then Zazi has not told authorities where it is located. Third, there are reports that authorities don’t know more about Zazi’s alleged co-conspirators and intended target(s) because the NYPD moved too quickly in pursuing its own investigation into the matter after being tipped off by the FBI. The NYPD allegedly contacted a would-be informant, who in turn warned Zazi. I don’t know if this is true or not, but taken together with the second point above it means that authorities are missing crucial details about Zazi’s plotting. Source: The Weekly Standard
 After overnight arrests this weekend in the alleged New York terror plot, FBI agents believe an active terror cell directed by al Qaeda was preparing an attack on New York City, and authorities say they have yet to identify everyone involved. Officials tell ABC News they know of three distinct teams of four men each, but there may be others linked to the plot that remain unidentified. Law enforcement agents say they're watching a number of people on round-the-clock surveillance who they suspect might have been part of the alleged terror cell. Suspects Najibullah Zazi, a 24-year-old airport shuttle driver, and his father Mohammed made their first court appearance in a Denver federal courtroom today, handcuffed and dressed in the same clothes they were arrested in Saturday night. They are charged with lying to federal agents during an investigation into the alleged terror plot that has been described as "the real deal" by authorities. Zazi is set to have a preliminary and detention hearing Thursday morning and will remain in custody at least until then. The government is not seeking to keep his father, who was appointed a federal public defender, in custody, but his travel will be restricted to Colorado and he'll wear an electronic monitoring bracelet. He will have to remain in custody for two days until the monitoring system is set up. Zazi, who authorities say appears to be the ringleader of the alleged plot, has been tracked by the FBI and the CIA for more than a year, during which time he has traveled twice to Pakistan for explosives training from al Qaeda. Officials say they do not have specifics on the potential targets of the alleged plot, which may have been the most serious plan against the U.S. since 9/11. Court records show Zazi ran up more than $50,000 in debt on 20 credit cards, leading to concerns he was preparing for a suicide mission.
He declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy in Mar. 2009, and while he told investigators he had been traveling to Pakistan see his wife, he checked the "not married" box on his application form. In a criminal complaint, the FBI alleges they found nine handwritten pages on the manufacture and handling of explosives, detonators and the fusing system in Zazi's possession. "When [Zazi] was questioned about whether or not he knew anything about these written notes, and they were shown to him, he denied that knowledge," said NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly. Kelly said Mohammed Zazi was arrested "because he lied about the phone call that he made to his son when he was in New York." Read more and source: ABC News H/T: JihadWatch
 Federal agents from Denver and New York to Pakistan are still racing to solve an Al Qaeda "They're still looking," a senior counterterror official told the Daily News. As to whether they have identified all the conspirators, "nobody knows the answer for sure," the official said. FBI arrest documents showed prime suspect Najibullah Zazi, 25, an Afghan, visited the city from Colorado on the 9/11 anniversary carrying a laptop with bomb-making notes he wrote. Specific attack plans or targets remain unknown, a Justice Department statement said. Zazi was collared in Aurora, Colo., near Denver, by the FBI on Saturday night and was charged with lying about the bomb notes. He'll likely soon be slapped with tougher terrorism charges, sources said. Also nabbed for lying to feds was Flushing mosque Imam Ahmad Wais Afzali, 37, an NYPD snitch who the FBI says alerted Zazi and his father, Mohammed, 53, after cops quizzed him about the son. The senior official said the feds believe the plot is now "compromised" and would be "hard to bring forward." "We think we have a pretty good handle on the threat, but we'd know a lot more if Afzali hadn't tipped them in the beginning," another insider said. The source added that court papers released yesterday reveal only a "sliver" of the conspiracy. "The FBI is investigating several individuals in the U.S., Pakistan and elsewhere, relating to a plot to detonate improvised explosive devices in the U.S.," the Justice Department said. The Zazis will appear in court today in Denver as Afzali comes before a federal judge in Brooklyn. The FBI said Zazi admitted last week that Osama Bin Laden's goons trained him in "weapons and explosives" last year at an Al Qaeda camp in Pakistan's war-torn Pashtun tribal areas, prosecutors say. Read more here,,,, Source: New York Daily News
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Hmmmm. Are those really the salient details that New York Times readers need to know about Adis Medujanin and Najibullah Zazi in order to understand why they entered into this conspiracy? 
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